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Monday, February 18, 2013

Monday's Meal

Monday.

Seth is home again, and we’re tucked inside, listening to the bitter wind outside. I love having him here. He fixed my rocking chair and began recovering Yarrow’s chair over the weekend, brought in wood, and laughed with me as an ermine chased the chickens - seemingly uninterested in eating any of them. I think he just wanted to play! We chased him off eventually, just in case, but I loved the little guy, and so did Luba. She wandered the yard for a while after, trying to entice him back for another chasing game.

Lenten weekends are decadent. We had wraps loaded with spinach, avocado, red cabbage, hummus, cucumber, and dried cranberries. We had a tomato-y fish stew with na’an for dinner on Sunday and the last of the wine. But Monday is here again, and the dish of oil on the table from last-night’s dipping is a reminder that this is one of the hard days. But I still have some red cabbage, so for dinner I’ll be making tomato-bean soup with red-cabbage salad on the side, and more na’an..unless I brave the wind and go out to bake in the kitchen. The tomato soup is easy:

soak and boil a cup of dried, soup-bean mix (or just dump in a can of beans..any kind would work, really, even lentils, I think), when they’re soft, keeping them in the bean water add some vegetable bullion if you have it, and some garlic and spices if you don’t. Add one can of tomatoes (whole, canned tomatoes are best, but I’m all out of those, so I just used a can of sauced tomatoes). Then let the whole thing cook for a while on low, you can leave it for a long while if you have it very low, and let the flavors meld together. That’s it..except salt!

The Red Cabbage Salad is even easier:

1/2 red cabbage, shredded

1 pickling cucumber, chopped

1-2 carrots, chopped long or shredded

Drizzle liberally with vinegar - I used a peach-infused vinegar, but balsamic would work well

Salt & pepper to taste

Then you put in all together in a pretty bowl - I like blue bowls with this salad because of the contrast, but yellow would be pretty to, or some crisp white-patterned dish..not so much red, I think..